By Ireneaus Chongwain Chia
If a country were built on speeches alone, Cameroon will ineluctably be a citadel of development. If a country’s economic take-off and growth were tied to carefully-worded growth strategies alone, Cameroon would have been miles ahead of many countries. If slogans alone could kick-start a lethargic disoriented people into action, Cameroonians would have long rolled back their sleeves and fell behind their ploughs. But despite the abundance of speeches that whet many an appetite, carefully crafted development strategies and slogans, Cameroon remains caught in an underdevelopment and non-accomplishment vicious circle. Why?
Because it cannot be different if benchmarks are established and escape boulevards constructed to justify the failure to meet set goals. Elsewhere this is described as setting and building a foundation or culture of mediocrity. But wait a minute! Can walls ever be raised on such a foundation? Is it not delusory to think anything can be achieved simply from carefully-worded and scintillatingly delivered speeches? Where are we today in Cameroon with all the carefully rehearsed and beautifully delivered speeches, with all the foreign donor-dictated and endorsed growth and development strategy papers?
This is not to say great and captivatingly delivered speeches are not important. One cannot forget how Churchill’s sizzling speeches boosted the morale of his soldiers during the Second World War. But that war was finally won more from action and determination, and the quest and drive to conquer, than from mere speeches.
After each election since multi-party democracy was restored in Cameroon; and ridiculously so, the same setbacks, which have questionably never affected an election outcome, have always been identified. While some of these setbacks are complex and need time and expertise to be corrected, others like using indelible ink and issuing a voter’s card immediately someone registers may be so simple to solve that many see more their perpetrators’ desire to continue benefitting from them, than the dissuasive complexity of solving them.
And what about also laying the blame of Cameroon’s snail economic progress on the global economic and financial crises? While one cannot refuse that the consequences of the present economic situation are ubiquitous or widespread due to global economic interconnectivity, it is hard understanding why the powers that be always take advantage of this situation to justify Cameroon’s underachievement. Was the economic crisis not given as one of the reasons of Cameroon’s economic tardiness in the 80s and early 90s? Curiously, Cameroonians are rarely told what was achieved when the world economy was booming. Are our leaders not simply going every mile to justify why we are underachievers? Achievers usually capitalise on their successes to outshine their failures.
While democracy is essentially based on majority rule, it is also the protection and respect of minority rights. A promise made last year to mark 50 years of Reunification; a controversial historical event itself, with the same pomp and pageantry as 50 years of Independence in 2010, was alarmingly ignored. Although President Biya has promised that this will be done in Buea on a date still to be determined, the announcement, which many see as a political afterthought, does not auger well in fostering the much-talked-of but scantily implemented national unity. It only helps to project previous and scandalous neglects in appointments, educational system and military recruitment, for example, of English speaking Cameroonians. However, it is better late than never, for Reunification advocates, anyway!
If the President’s New Year address to the nation can be rightly described as the most authoritative and comprehensive of other addresses made in other setups during this period, many Christians have never stopped wondering the neglect of God and His contribution to Cameroon’s development. The Presidents of a more and perhaps most secular country in the world, almost always end their speeches by asking God to bless their country. This is not the case in Cameroon.
Any wonder Cameroon is desperately groping about in the dark now? Can the “New Impetus” the President has announced be realised without God? The psalmists say unless the Lord builds the house, the labourers labour in vain. An exclusive and misleading dependence on human effort, however well thought out, as has been the case over the last decades, has failed to produce the desired results. A combination of both will certainly usher in a positive economic turn around in Cameroon. There is nothing bad in trying both, as President Biya himself pointed out in his December 31 New Year address to the nation, when he said, “By the way, we have no choice.” We are only reaping what we have sown. May God bless Cameroon in 2012!
This is not to say great and captivatingly delivered speeches are not important. One cannot forget how Churchill’s sizzling speeches boosted the morale of his soldiers during the Second World War. But that war was finally won more from action and determination, and the quest and drive to conquer, than from mere speeches.
After each election since multi-party democracy was restored in Cameroon; and ridiculously so, the same setbacks, which have questionably never affected an election outcome, have always been identified. While some of these setbacks are complex and need time and expertise to be corrected, others like using indelible ink and issuing a voter’s card immediately someone registers may be so simple to solve that many see more their perpetrators’ desire to continue benefitting from them, than the dissuasive complexity of solving them.
And what about also laying the blame of Cameroon’s snail economic progress on the global economic and financial crises? While one cannot refuse that the consequences of the present economic situation are ubiquitous or widespread due to global economic interconnectivity, it is hard understanding why the powers that be always take advantage of this situation to justify Cameroon’s underachievement. Was the economic crisis not given as one of the reasons of Cameroon’s economic tardiness in the 80s and early 90s? Curiously, Cameroonians are rarely told what was achieved when the world economy was booming. Are our leaders not simply going every mile to justify why we are underachievers? Achievers usually capitalise on their successes to outshine their failures.
While democracy is essentially based on majority rule, it is also the protection and respect of minority rights. A promise made last year to mark 50 years of Reunification; a controversial historical event itself, with the same pomp and pageantry as 50 years of Independence in 2010, was alarmingly ignored. Although President Biya has promised that this will be done in Buea on a date still to be determined, the announcement, which many see as a political afterthought, does not auger well in fostering the much-talked-of but scantily implemented national unity. It only helps to project previous and scandalous neglects in appointments, educational system and military recruitment, for example, of English speaking Cameroonians. However, it is better late than never, for Reunification advocates, anyway!
If the President’s New Year address to the nation can be rightly described as the most authoritative and comprehensive of other addresses made in other setups during this period, many Christians have never stopped wondering the neglect of God and His contribution to Cameroon’s development. The Presidents of a more and perhaps most secular country in the world, almost always end their speeches by asking God to bless their country. This is not the case in Cameroon.
Any wonder Cameroon is desperately groping about in the dark now? Can the “New Impetus” the President has announced be realised without God? The psalmists say unless the Lord builds the house, the labourers labour in vain. An exclusive and misleading dependence on human effort, however well thought out, as has been the case over the last decades, has failed to produce the desired results. A combination of both will certainly usher in a positive economic turn around in Cameroon. There is nothing bad in trying both, as President Biya himself pointed out in his December 31 New Year address to the nation, when he said, “By the way, we have no choice.” We are only reaping what we have sown. May God bless Cameroon in 2012!
Well thought out article! Good reflection!
Posted by: BN | January 10, 2012 at 11:23 AM
Wey, ma St. Bede's brother. Be safe!!!
I di fear say make Bi Mvono no come whip you because of this paper.
Oh Africa! Wade for Senegal still want be president for age of 85 years? Trouble!
Posted by: akwa | January 28, 2012 at 03:34 PM